Ombudsman wants wide-opened doors to human dignity

10.12.2015 15:22

Category: work and news

Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer pointed to numerous wrongs people on the edge have to face every day as she addressed a reception to mark Human Rights Day on Thursday. "Let us open the doors wide to human dignity," she urged.

During these times many wonder whether rights are the same for everybody and why some are violated on a daily basis, she noted. "Do we know and respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, which is a common ideal of all peoples and nations of the world?"

Nussdorfer is certain Slovenians could do more to really have a wellfare state and the rule of law. She wondered why do "we allow the money to shape our values and actions".

The state and its institutions are known to be slow, unkind and cold - "it is obvious it was affected by an erosion that destroys the foundations of the Slovenian society", she told the reception which was attended by President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Miro Cerar, among others.

She also touched on the fear of the future due to security issues and on the "sometimes justified but too often excessive deepening of the fear and the introduction of anxiety and unease in regards to everybody who is alien, who is not ours".

Pahor meanwhile expressed his wish that Slovenia retained the philosophy of an open society in spite of the challenges "that will be presented to us".

To mark Human Rights Day Nussdorfer also hosted a panel on the young earlier today. The evnt heard that the state should help those who do not have a job.

The ZSSS trade union meanwhile pointed to the basic human rights to work, to rest and to free time as its representatives visited the parliament.

Human Rights Day was also marked by a rally in the centre of Ljubljana, where a coalition of NGOs and movements called for a Europe without borders, without razor fences and without war.

Actor Andrej Rozman Roza, who was one of over 2,000 people to attend the march, told the STA that the least Europe could do was to accept the Muslims who were fleeing the IS. "Every volunteer who helps these refugees does million times more that the whole NATO put together."